Game of the Week - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #908 Saturday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (-) vs Atlanta Braves @ 6:05 ET - As mentioned here in my write-up yesterday (but the game was rained out), the Phillies lineup has been stronger than expected considering the layoff (covid-19) they've endured early this season. Philadelphia should enjoy plenty of success tonight at the plate against the Braves Kyle Wright. Yes, Wright's 2nd start was better than his first but that's not saying much. Wright's first start was very ugly and then in his 2nd start he was fortunate to work out of multiple jams. He is a highly regarded prospect but faces a big challenge with the hitters the Phillies have in their lineup. As for Philadelphia, they start Jake Arrieta here. Since coming to the Phillies from the Cubs in 2018, Arrieta has proven better at home than on the road and also better in evening starts than day games. Of course this is an evening game at Citizens Bank Park and I like the odds of Arrieta, a hard-fighting old-school gamer, to come up big in this key divisional battle for the Phillies. He seemed to get stronger as his start went on in his first outing this season and that was against a Yankees lineup that is arguably the most potent in all of baseball. Arrieta was getting plenty of swings and misses later in his start and really seemed to find good command of "his stuff" in the latter stages. Look for him to carry that momentum right into this start and the Phillies pen has plenty of fresh arms with all the extra time Philly has had off early this season and even so far this week too. 10* PHILADELPHIA

East Beast Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #909 Saturday 8* OVER the total in Washington Nationals vs Baltimore Orioles @ 6:05 ET - The Orioles scored 11 runs yesterday and will stay hot at the plate today. The Nationals will surely bounce back at the plate after being embarrassed by that 11-0 home shutout at the hands of Baltimore. Two unproven starters on the mound for this one. The Nationals Austin Voth has only made 11 starts in his MLB career. He is facing an Orioles team that has now scored 7 or more runs in 4 of their last 5 road games. As for Baltimore starter, Thomas Eshelman, he has a 6.18 ERA so far at the MLB level and has only pitched in 11 games (4 starts). Facing the defending World Champs lineup off an embarrassing shutout loss I don't expect this to go well for Eshelman. 8* OVER the total in Washington

PA Insider - Rickenbach NHL Rotation #12 Sunday 8* Philadelphia Flyers Money Line (+) vs Tampa Bay Lightning @ 8 ET - Both these teams have looked sharp in the round robin action but the Lightning are having trouble hanging onto leads and that is in the back of their minds here. The Bolts were outshot by the Capitals in their first game of the round robin and blew a 2-0 lead and had to win it in the shootout. Then against Boston the Lightning again blew a 2-0 lead and won the game on a late goal with under 2 minutes to go. Now they face a Flyers team that is firing well on all cylinders right now and that is even with using back-up goalie Brian Elliott in their most recent game just to get him a little work. Now they'll use Carter Hart in goal for this battle for the #1 seed in the East and he looked absolutely fantastic in his round robin action against Boston. Hart has looked extremely sharp especially in big games for the Flyers and dating back to March, Philadelphia has won 11 of their past 12 games. You have to like the value of having them dog when you consider that. Also, unlike TB and their tight wins, Philly has been dominant and won their two games by a combined score of 7 to 2. While Tampa Bay is certainly a strong team the Flyers have been playing better in their own zone in terms of protecting leads and overall protection in front of their goalie and that will prove to be the difference again here. 8* PHILADELPHIA

Game of the Week - Rickenbach NHL Rotation #2 Saturday 10* Top Play Colorado Avalanche Money Line (-) vs Vegas Golden Knights @ 3 ET - The Avalanche are the best team in the NHL right now. They are healthier than they have been in a long, long time and it is amazing that MacKinnon, Landeskog, and Rantanen haven't scored yet in the first two round robin games and yet the Avs still have looked so good in winning the two games by a combined score of 6 to 1. In the regular season Colorado beat the Golden Knights by a combined score of 13 to 4 in their two meetings and those two games were at Vegas no less! Now these teams meet on neutral ice and the #1 seed for the upcoming NHL playoffs is on the line. I don't see the Avalanche being denied. They are the much better team. Yes, Vegas has also gone 2-0 in this round robin but they had a miracle rally against Dallas and then played a St Louis team that seemed surprisingly uninspired hockey. The Golden Knights, even with Blues seeming a bit sluggish, still had to rally from an early 2-0 hole and later still trailed 4-3 going to the 3rd period. Keep in mind they trailed the Stars by a count of 3-1 with about 10 minutes to go in that game before their miracle rally. The Vegas goaltending is suspect with Fleury struggling and Lehner now playing with his 4th club in 3 seasons! Lehner will get the start here and seems to have supplanted Fleury. The Avs have allowed just 1 goal so far in 2 games while the Golden Knights have allowed 7. Also, as shown in the regular season, the Avalanche have shown they pose some match-up problems for Vegas! 10* COLORADO

Total of the Week - Rickenbach NBA Rotation #713 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Portland Trail Blazers vs Los Angeles Clippers @ 1:05 ET - Both teams off high-scoring wins and are shooting the ball extremely well. Portland off a particularly red hot shooting performance from beyond the arc. The Trail Blazers, not including OT, have scored 124 points or more in 3 of their 4 games in the bubble. They'll be helped by the fact that the Clippers Patrick Beverley (awarded twice to the All-Defensive team in his NBA career) is expected to miss a 2nd straight games. LA, after that fierce battle with the Lakers in their first game within the bubble, has averaged 122.3 points per game since then. You can see why I am forecasting this game to get into the 240's per the above. 10* OVER the total in Portland